Apex Fire Station 1 has been an unofficial historic landmark on the town’s main downtown thoroughfare since volunteers built it, brick and mortar, in 1954. With the aging building unable to accommodate modern operations, town officials say it will close, and that demolition of the original building—in whole or in part—is probable.
Retired firefighter Roy Moore is trying to rescue it. Moore is organizing a grassroots movement, complete with a press release, media interviews, and a petition titled “Save Apex Fire Station 1 from demolition!” that’s reached over 1,200 signatures.
“It is the heart of the small town character here of downtown Apex, this fire station is,” Moore said, gesturing to the station behind him from the red and black bench out front.
Moore served as a volunteer and staff firefighter at Station 1 for a total of 22 years, from 1998 to 2020, and believes the highly-trafficked location helps residents connect with first responders. Not only does Moore think the station should remain operational, he wants to integrate a museum and fire prevention center in the original bays that can’t fit modern firetrucks.
Town Manager Randy Vosburg, too, hopes that whatever the site becomes next is an homage to the firefighters who served the community all those years. The Apex Town Council also indicated back in 2024 that it could be a museum and educational center.
While the town has already decided the station will cease operation in the next few years, no final call about the site’s future has been made. At its August 11 meeting, the council is expected to vote on funding for a feasibility study, which would bring in consultants and community members to explore the site’s future.
Station 1’s History
Though not a designated landmark, Fire Station 1 is revered by many residents, recognized for generations of professional and volunteer firefighters who put their lives on the line for their community and molded the Apex Fire Department into what it is today.
The three-bay brick firehouse in downtown Apex saw multiple additions as the department expanded and modernized. Two more bays were added to the left side of the original building in 1961. Two long drive-through bays were added in the 1970s, and other structural additions, including its second story, were layered over the years.
In 2002, Fire Station 3 came into the picture, less than one mile away on Hunter Street. The town’s website states Stations 1 and 3 now essentially function as one station in two separate buildings, and that Station 3 provides the space required for operations and personnel to accommodate a growing community.
Modern efforts to figure out what to do with the downtown area—including Fire Station 1 and other development projects just coming to fruition now—began in 2019. At the time, town council members were not in favor of remodeling Fire Station 1, but indicated they wanted to maintain a “fire presence” downtown.
Later that year, the council adopted the Downtown Master Plan, which was formed with public input. Along with other projects like the completed Saunders Parking Lot, the in-progress Salem Streetscape, and the future Alleys & Peak Gathering Space, it called for Fire Station 1 to be reimagined as a new civic or mixed-use site.
In 2024, the town council reviewed a few proposed ideas for Apex’s fire stations, and eventually expressed support for moving all Station 1 operations to Station 3 and redeveloping Station 1 into an educational center on Apex Fire. The town also reviewed a fire station location study in May 2025 that supported closing Station 1, renovating Station 3, and moving Station 1’s engine and crew to Station 3.
The main drivers were the stations’ largely overlapping response areas and Station 1’s inability to accommodate modern fire operations. The design of Station 3’s renovation received funding in the budget adopted later that year. This year’s budget funds the actual construction, which will tentatively begin in December.
While no final call about demolition will be made pending a study on Station 1, Vosburg said Apex is considering what a 2019 assessment found: It would take millions of dollars to bring the building up to code and make it a functioning space because the building’s basic structure is poor; it was built by volunteers over 70 years ago. And because the original building was repeatedly “pieced together” with new additions over the years, he said that inevitably makes renovations challenging, inefficient, and expensive.
He also said the station’s location is inconvenient, given the road network is more difficult for firetrucks to navigate (as opposed to Station 3’s less pedestrian-trafficked location on Hunter Street). Additionally, whenever there is a parade downtown, Station 1 units have to be relocated due to street closures.
“[Apex Fire] wants what’s best for the firefighters going forward, and what’s best for the firefighters going forward is a modernized station that has all the anti-cancer protections, has the wash bays, has all of those things, and it’s very cost prohibitive to do that there—if at all possible,” Vosburg said.
“This is not a decision to walk away from Station 1 or what it represents,” Apex Fire Chief Tim Herman said in a social media statement from the town earlier this month. “It is a strategic decision about how we provide the best emergency coverage possible for a growing community while remaining responsible stewards of town resources.”
The Station’s Future
Moore wants to see Station 1 remain an operating one. He also proposed, similarly to the town, coupling historic preservation with “contemporary utility” by adding a museum and fire prevention center—which could be the foundation of a compromise.
But Moore insists the station should remain in operation. His sudden public campaign could seem like the makings of a bid for office, which Moore said he has considered, but he’s “not ready to commit at this time” (The Rotary Club of Apex, which Moore is treasurer of, also hosts their annual pancake breakfast in the station.)
“This station, the interaction with the community of the guys down here is priceless. You just don’t see that elsewhere, and I don’t think it’s a compromise situation,” he said.
Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tempore Terry Mahaffey told the INDY that while the town wants to make it clear that no decision has been made to demolish Fire Station 1 entirely, the town will probably have to demolish and rebuild at least some of the building, while hopefully preserving salvageable parts to maintain the station’s (unofficially) historic character. Station 1 does not officially qualify as a historic building, and therefore does not require preservation, Vosburg said.
“If I had to guess, I would say it’ll be in between a renovation or a teardown. We don’t want to remove the site entirely, but it may require a very, very deep amount of work to get it up to code and to be usable today,” Mahaffey said.
Ensuring new developments match the look of the older, shorter buildings that characterize Salem Street has been a concern of residents, especially after the modern, three-story Highline was built across the street from Fire Station 1. Mahaffey said that because the town owns the station, there isn’t the same commercial pressure to make a development project viable.
The 2019 Downtown Master Plan included three conceptual images of what a new Fire Station 1 site, with some sort of alternative civic use, could look like. While maintaining some symbolic elements of the original station, they appear similar in style to the contentious Highline. Moore said these renderings don’t look like the station, and that the design “just doesn’t settle,” with him.
Looking Ahead
Moore launched his petition on July 20, and has since kept up a Save Apex Fire Station 1 Facebook page to rally support. At the August meeting, Moore plans to bring his crew to present testimonies on the station’s cultural value, gathered through their efforts during the public comment period. For now, the council will only decide whether to fund the feasibility study, not the station’s fate.
“This is emotion, raw emotion here in Apex of what people are telling us,” Moore said.
Apex Director for Economic Development Joanna Helms said the Station 1 feasibility study the council will vote on would take about nine months to complete, including public input. Mahaffey estimated the town would pick a specific direction for the site around 2030.
Helms said she hopes Moore’s advocacy efforts drive more engagement with the study process.
“What’s kind of cool in a backhanded way is that because of this effort by Roy and his group, this is even giving more attention to the study that’s coming up,” she said.
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